


Five Things Kairi Didn’t Know About Umika

by zarahjoyce



Category: Super Sentai - Fandom, Tokusatsu, 快盗戦隊ルパンレンジャー VS 警察戦隊パトレンジャー | Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, I might actually ship them now?, idk - Freeform, start of something - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 14:16:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16176779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarahjoyce/pseuds/zarahjoyce
Summary: and one that he did.





	Five Things Kairi Didn’t Know About Umika

_**one**_  
  
A dull day at  _Bistrot Jurer_  usually finds them like this: Touma out grocery shopping, Kairi coming in from whatever convenient errand he simply  _has_ to attend to, and Umika sitting behind the counter, flipping through months-old magazines haphazardly littering the restaurant.   
  
Upon his arrival, she bounces up to him and asks, “What do you think of  _this_?”  
  
Kairi blinks at the picture shoved up to his face and tentatively says, “It’s… white?”  
  
She rolls her eyes. “No, I mean what do you think of it if it’s yellow instead of white?”  
  
“–the dress?”  
  
“Yes, the dress.” Umika frowns at him. “What did you think I was talking about?”  
  
He scratches the back of his head. Some kind of warning prior to this conversation would have been  _nice_. “I don’t know. It’ll look the same, I guess. I mean, just in yellow.” Kairi reaches for the magazine so he knows exactly what the hell they’re talking about. “Why? Are you going to buy one?”   
  
She shrugs. “No, but I’m thinking of sewing something like it. Just… you know. In yellow.”   
  
–oh. Right. Umika  _sews_.   
  
Upon returning the magazine to her Kairi remarks, “You’ll look like a girl if you wear it.”  
  
And in the driest tone she can muster she huffs, “I  _am_ a girl, dummy.”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
**_two_**  
  
The Gangler they’re fighting is stronger than any of them anticipated. Unexpectedly, he aims his cannon-like weapon at Touma before swinging at the last second and shooting at Kairi instead.  
  
Not quick enough to dodge, Kairi puts his hands up, covering his head. But then he falls to his side, having been pushed by something or some _one_  strong enough–  
  
He looks up, sees Umika breathing hard above him.  
  
“You okay?” she asks.  
  
“–Yeah,” he replies a few seconds after, still in disbelief that this girl just  _saved_ him. “Yeah.”  
  
“Good,” she says, smiling quickly before rising up to her feet and attacking the Gangler again.  
  
Kairi slowly breathes, letting air rush back into his lungs.  
  
And here he thought if push comes to shove, none of them will be willing to save the others’ sorry hides.  
  
All because of their solemn vow:  
  
_even if one of us dies, those remaining will fulfill our wish._  
  
Guess it’s not yet his time to die, then.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
**_three_**  
  
It’s actually a sorry thing to witness: Umika rebuffing the efforts of that cop in green  _yet again_ , this time by outrightly rejecting  a bundle of daisies being handed to her while wearing the most uncomfortable expression her face can actually crumple into.  
  
Kairi sighs, wondering if he should intervene. But then Keiichirou takes the decision out of his hands by pulling at Sakuya’s collar and bodily hauling him out the door, daisies and all.  
  
Umika sighs. Then she starts to goddamn  _sniffle_ , baffling Kairi to no end.  
  
“Hey–”  
  
She glances at him, places a hand on her face, and nearly flies towards the comfort room.  
  
Talk about being overdramatic.  
  
Kairi rolls his eyes and turns to Touma. “It’s just a bunch of flowers. Jeez.”  
  
“Yes,” Touma answers drolly. “Just a bunch of flowers she’s  _deathly_ allergic to.”  
  
Kairi blinks. Then blinks some more just for the heck of it.  
  
_“–oh.”_  
  
Well  _that_ makes sense, then.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
**_four_**  
  
“Look,” Kairi overhears her say, “I don’t  _like_ him that way.”  
  
Curiously, he pauses just before turning around the corner, keeping himself hidden while being in the best position to listen to things he supposes he shouldn’t be listening to in the first place.  
  
“How can you not?” her girly companion asks. “He’s really cute!”  
  
Kairi raises his brows.  _Who’s really cute?_  
  
“Is he? I don’t notice it.”  
  
“That’s probably because you see him everyday. You’re immune to him by now, Umika-chan.”  
  
“Exactly! Even more reason  _why_ I don’t like him that way!”  
  
He straightens his shoulders. The list of men Umika sees everyday is quite, quite short. It doesn’t even include that stupid cop because Sakuya doesn’t drop by everyday anymore - much to their collective relief.  
  
So that leaves Kogure-san, Touma, possibly Noel, and–  
  
_“Kairi!”_  
  
Oh shit.  
  
He glances at Umika, then at her friend, then at Umika again. Noticing her rapidly reddening cheeks he says, quite jovially, “Talking about me, are you?”  
  
She crosses her arms and glares at him. “Why? Is your name ‘Touma’?”  
  
“–Touma?”  
  
Her friend nods and proudly declares, “I think he’s really cute.”  
  
Kairi can  _feel_ his ego deflating.  
  
Umika glances at her and says disapprovingly, “He has a fiancee, Mariko-chan.”   
  
“So? They’re not yet married, are they?”  
  
He met her eyes and they both winced.  
  
Thank god Touma isn’t here to hear  _that_.  
  
To change the subject Kairi asks, “Why are you talking about Touma? Don’t you two think I’m cute, too?”  
  
“No,” Umika says, before reaching up and pinching his nose - the way he does to her. “But  _Tsukasa-san_  might.”  
  
Kairi feels himself redden.  _“Hey!”_  
  
She laughs.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
**_five_**  
  
  
Kairi throws the rag to the table, wiping his forehead on his sleeve.  _Man_ , he really hates cleaning up.   
  
_Hates_.  _It._  
  
But Touma had begged off doing the chore tonight, claiming he was sick (actually not begged, more like remained stoically quiet while turning more and more ashen and man that’s some scary shit, Touma  _never_ gets sick) whereas Umika had volunteered to look after him - at least, until he’d fallen asleep.  
  
Leaving Kairi to do the cleaning.  
  
He sits on one of the tables, surveying his hard work, when Umika comes out of Touma’s room.  
  
“How is he?” Kairi finds himself asking.  
  
“Sleeping,” Umika says. “Took him quite some time, too. He was just… tossing and turning.” She pauses. “And… calling out for Aya-san.”  
  
They both remain quiet after that, out of respect.  
  
That is, until she reaches for her jacket to drape it around herself.  
  
“You’re leaving?” he asks.  
  
She nods. “Just taking a walk. It’s a full moon tonight, did you notice?”  
  
Kairi glances at the window. “So?”  
  
Umika shrugs. “I don’t know. I find it pretty. Shiho-chan does too, you know.”  
  
He blinks at that bit of unnecessary information, not knowing how to respond to it.  
  
“I’ll be back soon,” she says instead. “Look after Touma for me?”  
  
Kairi crosses his arms. Like she needs to ask? “Take care outside.”  
  
She glances at him, nods, before going out the door.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
**_and one that he did_**  
  
Kogure has just finished briefing them - or more specifically, Kairi and Touma. Umika was nowhere to be seen.  
  
That is, until he steps out of  _Bistrot Jurer_  and finds her standing at the side, clutching… something in her hands. A letter, maybe?  
  
“Hey,” he calls her. “Gangler on the loose. You going with us or–”  
  
Umika looks at him, startled. She hides that thing she’s holding in the folds of her skirt and nods. “I’ll be–” She stops, clears her throat and says, “I’ll follow. Just give me a few minutes.”  
  
Kairi stares at her. Has she been  _crying_?  
  
He knows his place; hell, they all do. They have a promise to each other, but with that comes an unspoken one:  
  
_no prying._  
  
“Are you okay?”  
  
She blinks at him as though not knowing how to respond to  _that_ \- probably because it’s a question they  _never_ ask.   
  
But he’ll be damned if her demeanor hasn’t shaken him  _now_.  
  
Probably seeing the determination on his face, Umika visibly deflates and takes a white sheet out of her skirts before handing it to him.  
  
Kairi frowns. He’s right; it  _is_  a letter. Reading through it he comments, “A  _scholarship_ , Umika? To a… what’s this. Sewing and Design school?” Is there even such a thing?  
  
She nods and looks down at her hands. “It’s– something I applied for, right before–”  
  
_right before everything changed._  
  
“I never… I never thought I’d get in,” she says softly. “I mean… Shiho-chan encouraged me, but I never–”  
  
Kairi folds the letter and hands it to her. “This is a good thing, right? I mean, it’s free stuff. Shouldn’t you be happy?”  
  
Umika looks at him as though he’s grown a second head.  
  
“I can’t accept it,” she whispers. “Y-You know I can’t, Kairi!”  
  
And at that moment, Kairi understands  _why_.  
  
Sometimes he can really be so stupid, can’t he?  
  
“Sorry,” he offers quietly.   
  
She shakes her head and, to his deepening horror, covers her face with her hands. Her shoulders heave and–   
  
“I wish Shiho-chan’s here,” she sobs, sounding utterly broken. “I wish that Gangler had never attacked us. I wish I can take this scholarship and live a normal life and just… just–”  
  
Kairi grimaces and, without even realizing it, pulls her towards him.   
  
To his surprise, she comes without hesitation.   
  
“Hey.  _Hey,_ ” he whispers to her ear. “Look. We all know what we want, and we’ve made a promise to keep it. But I’ll make you a new one now, okay? I promise…”  
  
Kairi swallows hard before saying, “I promise I’ll help you get through this. I promise we’ll get our loved ones back. I promise you that you’ll get to attend this school as if nothing happened. Okay?”  
  
After a few quiet moments, Umika nods - to his relief.  
  
“Right,” he says, gently pushing her away from him. “Come on. Now let’s go kill some Gangler. I’ll even let you land the killing blow, if you want.”  
  
He then pinches her cheeks and steps out of her space before she can retaliate. 

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: for my darlings @blue-sappir and @iris-14cheonsa over at tumblr :D THANK YOU FOR SHIPPING MY SHIPS WITH ME


End file.
